~- I"----./ United States Peace Corps in Mauritania

Corps de la Paix Arnericain en Mauritanie

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DESCRIPTION OF PEACE CORPS SERVICEFOR: STUART DAVID SQUIRES

SSN:_COUNTRY: THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MAURITANIA

PROGRAM: EDUCATIONffEFL

After completing the Peace Corps application process, Stuart Squires was invited to serve as an EnglishEducation volunteer in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Stuart began his training on June 27,2000 in thecapital, Nouakchott. During the following ten weeks, Stuart participated in an intensive training program thatconsisted of technical, language, and cross-cultural elements. On September 11,2000 after completing training,Stuart was sworn in as a volunteer and was posted to Aleg, the capital of the Brakna region.

Technical Trair.ing:

~During the ten week training program, Stuart received 51.5 hours of technical training that consisted of

the following:• Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) methodology• Classroom management! Discipline management• Time management• Techniques and strategies for teaching Mauritanian children• Test writing, administering, and grading• An overview of the Mauritanian school system

This training was administered through seminars led by Peace Corps staff and Mauritanian teachers as wellas hands on experience during a two week' model school.' This model school allowed Stuart to teach in a virtualclassroom setting which put his theoretical training into practice by allowing him to teach in a simulatedclassroom experience. At these simulations, Stuart received feedback from experienced Mauritanian teachersafter teaching lessons to Mauritanian students.

Language Training:

Stuart received 145 hours of language training for speaking, reading. and writing French. This trainingincluded French grammar, vocabulary, formal proposal writing, and technical language for the classroom. At theend of the training program, Stuart tested at the intermediate-middle French competency level.

~ross·Culture Training:

Stuart received 28.5 hours of training in Mauritanian culture that helped him integrate into hiscommunity and perform his job more effectively. This training dealt with the role ofIslam in daily life,relationship standards between men and women, ideas of purity and pollution, dietary habits, hygiene norms,and polygamy.

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Classroom Responsibilities:

~ Stuart was assigned to the secondary school in Aleg where he taught both junior high school and highschool English classes to students of the Arabic-focused curriculum as part of the national initiative to shiftthese students to a multi-lingual program of study. He taught 310 students that were divided into eight differentclasses, including four classes of seventh grade, three classes of eighth grade, and one class of tenth grade. Theseventh and eighth grade classes studied English for two hours a week while the tenth grade class studied forthree hours a week. This totaled a 17 hour work load each week.

All three levels of students were commencing their studies in the rudiments of the English language.Therefore, the lessons consisted of such topics as the days of the week, numbers, months of the year, tellingtime, and other such topics.

Outside the Classroom:

In his free-time, Stuart organized and participated in.quarterly teacher observations sessions. In thesesessions, the English teachers observed each others' teaching techniques and gave feedback in order to improvethe quality of English teaching at the secondary school. .

Stuart also gave private lessons to a group of seniors in high school that were studying for theiruniversity entrance exams. These lessons reviewed both basic and intermediate topics in English.

Secondary Projects:

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Along with Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Stuart collaborated on projects that wereorganized by several volunteers. Stuart organized a training session during a multi-regional bike tour project.This project consisted of six volunteers making a tour on bicycle of two different regions, the Brakna and theGorgol. During this tour, the volunteers gave training sessions to Mauritanian female cooperatives on naturalpesticides for their gardens and the importance of breast-feeding for the health of their babies. Stuart organized atraining session dealing with the importance of the continuing education of women. More than 50 Mauritanianjunior high girls participated in this session.

Another project Stuart participated on was a 'Big-Sister / Little-Sister' weekend. This project wasdesigned to match-up young women in high school with young women in junior high school in order to give theyounger students role models and to demonstrate to them that girls can continue their education beyond thejunior high school level. In Mauritanian culture, women often end their education after junior high school.During this weekend, sessions were held on computer training, fabric dying, and geography. A round tablediscussion titled 'Women in Professional Life' was also conducted by a female Mauritanian health professionalwhere the students discussed the many possibilities for women in the professional sphere.

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Regional Coordinator:

For Stuart's second year of service, July 2001- July 2002, he was elected to be the Regional Coordinatorfor the Brakna region by the other nine volunteers of that region. The position of Regional Coordinator includesthe following responsibilities:

• Represent Peace Corps Mauritania at official functions, including maintaining good relationswith regional government authorities

• Assist in the administration of Peace Corps goals, policies, and procedures• Maintain and repair regional office facilities and equipment, including computers and printers• Hold quarterly meetings with Peace Corps administration• Act as a liaison between volunteers and staff

During his tenure as Regional Coordinator, Stuart successfully created and opened a local office for theregion, organized a visit to the Brakna by the Ambassador of the United States of America. assessed thesuitability of new sites for future volunteers, and maintained and enforced security guidelines for the volunteersof that region.

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Pursuant to section 5(f) of the Peace Corps Act U.S.c. 2504 (f) of April 10, 1963 as amended, any formervolunteer employed by the United States Government following his/her Peace Corps Volunteer service iscredited for purposes of retirement, seniority. reduction in force, leave and other privileges based on length ofgovernment service. That service shall not be credited toward completion of the probationary or trial period ofany service requirement for career appointment.

This is to certify in accordance with Executive Order 11103 of AprillO, 1963 that Stuart Squires servedsuccessfully as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His service ended on August 10,2002. He is therefore eligible to beappointed as a career-conditional employee in the competitive civil service on a non-competitive basis.This benefit under the Executive Order extends for a period of one year after termination of Volunteer service,except that the employing agency may extend the period for up to three years for a former Volunteer who entersmilitary service, pursues studies at a recognized institution of higher learning, or engages in other activities that,in the view of the appointing agency, warrant extension of the period.

August 4.2002

(x} Ms. Squires requests that a waiver be included as part of his statem

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